Bipartisan legislation aimed at improving Federal contracting opportunities for small businesses heads to President Biden’s desk after winning final approval in the House on Feb. 7. […]

Luis Campudoni has been named Acting CIO at the Small Business Administration (SBA) following news that CIO Keith Bluestein will be absent from his position for an indefinite period. […]

Facing over $4.6 billion in potentially fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and continuing challenges with IT investments, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has yet to meet its goal to revise the agency’s Certify system by the end of 2021, according to SBA Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware. […]

As high-profile ransomware and other cyberattacks have spiked over the past year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is working to prevent and mitigate against them by leveraging capabilities from the Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation (CDM) program, and working with organizations including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) – which runs the CDM program – and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). […]

The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its report on management and performance challenges for fiscal year (FY) 2022, which includes highlighting “significant” challenges in IT investment, system development, and security controls. […]

With a growing number of advanced threats across the Federal landscape, Small Business Administration (SBA) Chief Technology Officer Sanjay Gupta, encouraged agencies to view cybersecurity as a “team sport” and a proactive sport to gain a better cyber posture. […]

While cloud adoption by government agencies accelerated greatly during the pandemic, Federal experts agree that agencies need to create “purpose-built clouds,” as opposed to undertaking “lift and shift” cloud migrations, in order to achieve the best operational outcomes. […]

The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said in its newly released annual Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) report for Fiscal Year 2020 that SBA’s  information security was “not effective” last year due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) awarded the first phase of the 8(a) STARS III Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). This fourth-generation $50 billion contract primarily focuses on emerging technologies and performance outside of the continental United States. […]

Cross-agency collaboration – which has been important to the larger Federal IT mission for years, and became even more so during coronavirus pandemic – is due for further acceleration as the next mechanism in how government works together, Federal officials said on June 7. […]

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Federal agencies to work remotely almost immediately, but Federal CIOs and CTOs agree that this shift to teleworking has enabled agencies to undergo a transformational cultural shift within the agency and provides more opportunities for innovation. […]

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has recovered over $1.1 billion in funds paid through the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) that were initially granted based on false application information, SBA OIG said in a report released May 6. […]

As government agencies have increased their digital presence through social media, websites, or other online channels, they also have put themselves in position to be attacked outside of their traditional digital perimeters. These outside attacks can include social media impersonations, account takeovers, false or misleading information, or the disclosure of confidential agency information. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has added James Saunders to its CIO Office as Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity, OPM confirmed to MeriTalk. […]

President Joe Biden has nominated Dilawar Syed to be Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), subject to Senate confirmation. […]

Strengthening cloud service capabilities over the past year has been an important step for Federal agencies to both deal with pandemic-era network service demands, and bolster cybersecurity by meeting requirements of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program while using cloud services. […]

Federal CIOs laid the groundwork for COVID-19-related telework by modernizing systems and moving to the cloud, responded to the pandemic with rapid modernization, and have the opportunity to maintain momentum for further improvements to government technology, said Maria Roat, deputy Federal CIO. […]

As the continuing coronavirus pandemic puts a spotlight on the need for mission continuity, Federal agencies need to understand their customers’ journeys and smooth the path for them, Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat said today. […]

The Federal government is responsible for maintaining some very mature artificial intelligence (AI) models and many agencies are exploring AI pilot projects, with few projects in-between – but COVID has pushed agencies to advance their efforts, Federal officials noted in a discussion on AI. […]

Accelerating the pace of change by bringing in motivated innovators and new ideas from startups and small businesses can be an effective way of driving real innovation across the Federal government, Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat said today at the ACT-IAC ReImagine ELC 2020 virtual event. […]

The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released its report on performance challenges facing the agency for fiscal year 2021, including a new challenge related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

Evaluating the promise of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) TIC 3.0 initiative might seem daunting given the fundamental changes in security thinking that it portends, but at least one Federal agency wrapped up that process in less than 90 days as part of a broader effort to consider the impact of IT modernization. […]

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Indian Health Service, and Small Business Administration (SBA) are using security tools given to them by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they’re intended: to identify hardware and software on their networks that may have vulnerabilities and insecure configurations. But GAO said the agencies have more to do manage their network in order to optimize the value of the tools. […]

As the COVID-19 pandemic marches into August, many Federal agencies are reflecting on the challenges of their initial transition to the telework environment, what positives have resulted, and lessons learned from the transition. […]

Small Business Administration (SBA) Deputy CIO Guy Cavallo assured members of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations today that cybersecurity at SBA is much stronger than metrics like those reflected in the FITARA scorecard may lead them to believe. […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Small Business Association (SBA) aimed warnings this week at six companies to cease potentially misleading marketing geared toward small businesses seeking COVID-19 relief loans. […]

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., wrote letters to ten Federal agencies in an effort to seek answers as to what those agencies are doing to modernize IT systems before the next crisis, like COVID-19, occurs. […]

Keith Bluestein is set to be appointed CIO at the Small Business Administration (SBA), knowledgeable sources confirmed today. […]

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, agencies like the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have made the telework transition much easier for their personnel because of cloud-based systems. […]

The Small Business Administration (SBA) said on May 3 that the agency’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)  processed loan applications totaling more than a half a trillion dollars since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March. […]